Substax Breakbeat on Kog

Despite being popular across the Tasman for some time, breaks only began to take off in our clubs over the past year with DJs like Timmy Schumacher beginning to make a name for themselves on the dancefloor. Now as a prelude to NZ's inaugural breaks compilation expected later this year, Kog Transmissions will in April release Substax's 'Teleporter', the first album by a Kiwi breakbeat artist, a label that the band's main fulcrum Nick Farrands doesn't mind wearing.

"We're going to push the album as being the first album produced by a local breakbeat producer, which it is really," says Farrands, when I meet him at his central Auckland-based Nana studio. "Nobody else has done that specific genre. Some people might confuse drum 'n bass with breakbeat but it's quite different but in terms of mood. At the same time, I don't see myself as just a breakbeat producer and the album is quite diverse. I wouldn't want it to be pigeonholed as just breakbeat because there are what I'd consider house, downbeat and instrumental soundtrack tracks on the album. Words and categories are okay but it doesn't matter at the end of the day if it's music that affects people."

Farrands formed Substax in London in 1997 with partner Jason Johnston, who now concentrates on art design and playing live. "London was like an apprenticeship for me in terms of learning how to produce stuff and learning from other people," he says. "In terms of sound, it's developed since we came back home but being there was an inspiration for the music. There's so much exciting stuff going on all the time. It's totally stimulating. That's not to say that being back here isn't but it's stimulating in different ways. Wherever you live affects what you do."

As well as singing on one track, Farrands collaborates on 'Teleporter' with three vocalists, Claudia Gunn, Mahinarangi Maika and Katrina Holmberg." Claudia comes from a folk background and writes her own stuff with an acoustic guitar," says Farrands. "The really cool thing about the two tracks we did, Step and Drama Queen, is that we wrote them together. It's quite hard to find vocalists who can also write music. I like the folkiness in her voice which is slightly unusual in dance/ electronic styles.

"I got Mahinarangi in to replace a sample on Starfish, which ended up working a lot better. There's more feeling in it which is the way I'm trying to go, using less samples, more musicians and playing more stuff myself. I'm not bored of using samples but you can get more feeling if you're actually playing stuff. And Mahinarangi has got that soul/jazz Ella Fitzgerald sound and her voice is quite different to Claudia's. They can both do things that the other can't so I now try tracks out with each of them. As for Katrina on Sky Rhodes, most people will think that it sounds like a sample because of the way I've filtered it. Sky Rhodes is my version of a house track although other people don't think it's house because even though it's got a funk beat and a big snare drum, it's not overtly disco. Timmy Schumacher doesn't think it's house because it's not formulaic."

Farrands has also previously worked with Schumacher on 'Interstate Pimp', which appeared on the Pulp magazine CD 'Booster Breaks', and the DJ again shows up on the album on Teleporter Trouble, which may or may not feature a crafty sample of British cult sci fi series, 'Blake's Seven.'

"We're both space freaks and I love 'Blake's Seven'," laughs Farrands. "They've got teleporters in Star Trek as well but the sound of the ones in 'Blake's Seven' are cooler. And Tim is a complete freak for it. I don't know how many hours he spent, I think he went through about 10 episodes (looking for the sample). Teleporter Trouble was actually a hard track to fit on the album because the feel of it is so different to anything else on the album. And the way I work with Tim is that I'm the producer and he's the DJ so he's hearing a dancefloor slant to it. He'll bring in not just samples but DJ ideas. So he'll tend to direct and I'll produce. The great thing about working with Tim is that he'll push me further than I'm willing to go and he tends to think differently. He's also heard a lot of the album and has played tracks on his radio show (95 bFM's Thursday night Beat Freaks) as I've finished them, which is a good way of knowing if they are any good. He also likes downbeaty tracks like Moon Smooz so it doesn't have to be a dancefloor track for him to like it."

Substax studio gear list

• Mac G4

• Digi 001

• Lacie CD burner

Softwares:

Pro Tools LE, Reason, Cubase VST, Recycle

• Akai S2000 sampler

• Akai MPC 2000 sampler

• Cycloops sampler

• Alesis MidiVerb 4 fx rack

• Spirit Folio F1 16 channel mixing desk

• Roland PC 200 MIDI keyboard

• Rhodes 1000 microphone

• Roland SH 101 keyboard

• Roland TR 727 drum machine

• Two Zip drives

• Two Technics 1210 turntables

• Numark DM3002 X DJ mixer

• Technics SB-A38 studio monitors

• Sennheiser HD25 headphones

Also used on the album: Roland Super JV, Roland Juno, Fender Rhodes and a few other retro keyboards.